Contact:
Ross MacDonald-Allan, SFU Beedie, 778.782.9492, rossm@sfu.ca
Derek Moscato, SFU Beedie, 778.782.5038, derek_moscato@sfu.ca

Photo: http://at.sfu.ca/GjtDJG

Sam Thiara, Associate Director of Undergraduate Alumni Engagement at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, a special commemorative medal honouring the significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.

The award is being given to Thiara in recognition of his outstanding engagement and leadership.

Thiara has worked with hundreds of students and alumni and has also volunteered countless hours for various community initiatives in Metro Vancouver and beyond.

An alumnus of SFU and the University of Exeter in England, Thiara joined the Beedie School in 2004 as a manager of student recruitment and engagement.

He has worked as a mentor and coach to hundreds of students, both as individuals and as teams, and recently helped coach a team of students to a silver medal at the International Institute for Business Development Case Competition in Thailand.

Prior to joining SFU, Thiara worked as the Community Consultation Manager for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Bid Corporation, where he was responsible for building relationships with communities and providing the public with information about the bid.

Thiara has participated in the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow program since it was established in 1999, and last year received the Mentor of the Year award.

The Leaders of Tomorrow initiative is a student mentorship program that engages final year post-secondary students with industry professionals from across the Lower Mainland.

An accomplished speaker and storyteller, Thiara has been involved with over 20 volunteer organizations from the board to volunteer level throughout his career and has documented many of his experiences on his blog, sams50-50.com/.

Thiara will be presented with the Diamond Jubilee Medal at a special ceremony to be held in North Vancouver.

The medal was created to mark the 2012 celebrations of the 60^th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada.

The commemorative medal has been awarded to 60,000 Canadians this year to honour the significant contributions and achievements of the recipients.

For more information about the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, visit www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=14019&lan=eng.

Simon Fraser University is Canada's top-ranked comprehensive university and one of the top 50 universities in the world under 50 years old. With campuses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey, B.C., SFU engages actively with the community in its research and teaching, delivers almost 150 programs to more than 30,000 students, and has more than 120,000 alumni in 130 countries.

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Simon Fraser University: Engaging Students. Engaging Research. Engaging Communities.